A few years ago when I could ride more often I would take nearly hour long sets and feel great. Now I can only go for 15 or 20 minutes and I'm dead tired and can't hang on any longer. I'm trying to strengthen my arms mostly so I can hold on and take longer sets. I was thinking about some rowing exercises and some grip strengtheners. Any suggestions?

Rowing is killer.... Lots of the same muscles used. I used to row a lot in the gym during the offseason. Now I spend the off season riding dirtbikes, which also hits a lot of your hands, back, bi's/tri's, quads and hamstrings.

Fricken you want endurance... Do mma classes or if your not into the whole fighting thing just do HIIT training which an example would be
Treadmill

Jog - 2 min
Srint - 30 seconds
Jog -2 min
Sprint - 30 seconds

And you just do this for about 5-10 minutes
and you can do this with anything running, swimming, elipticals whatever you want..
but again if you dont mind the whole fighting thing.. Endurance classes and circuit training with MMA is INSANE .. just look up videos on youtube to get an idea of what its like! Not to mention MMA will toughen your muscles like no other as well

There are a lot of general programs you can adopt for endurance, but if you want a simple specific exercise for Wakeboarding, then Evan is dead on. Rowing is ideal. It's the same pulling motion, recruiting the same muscles, in the same plane. Obviously it will help with your cardiorespitory, in addition to conditioning your wake muscles.

I would supplement with standing rowing exercises where you're forced to demonstrate proper alignment of the core/pelvis/back. The only thing bad about rowing for long periods is that the spine is usually in flexion, and the pelvis is in poterior tilt (tucked) for long periods.

If you really want to challenge yourself, I recommend a VersaClimber. Pushing, pulling, uppperbody, lower body, core.....like their tagline says...."All the fitness you need."

Ideally, you want to train in all planes, with integrated, full body movements. This way you can prevent injury and stay more well-rounded.

Check out wake2wakefitness.com ive been going over there and checkin out the excersises and info for a few weeks now, he updates it regualarly with new articles and puts a new wakeboard specific workout up every wednesday with a video, and explanation of how the excercise can improve your wakeboarding.

Russell - you are right on. Rows, pull-ups, chin-ups, etc. will all help a great amount. For grip strength - get a 5 gallon bucket of rice or sand, stick your hand in it, and try and make a fist squeezing the rice/sand as hard as you can in your palm. That will increase your grip strength big time. Another option would be to get a tennis ball and squeeze it with your finger tips. Hope those ideas help.

Ryan - Thanks for the plug!!! I appreciate it!!! The website is still a work in progress. I have a bunch of great ideas for it. I would love to hear some feedback so I know what people want and what direction they want me to take the site.

C.I.E. J-Rod - The versaclimber is awesome! The gym I used to work at had a couple. I am not a big "cardio equipment" guy but, you can get in a killer workout on that piece of equipment.

Interval training is great for improving your endurance, recovery, and fat loss. (Who doesn't want to look good on the boat, right?) Make sure during your interval workouts you are resting during the "rest period." That is the #1 mistake people make, they try to do lower intensity when you are supposed to rest. For the high intensity part of the interval, you need to be going as hard/fast as you can. If you are doing the interval correctly you should NOT be able to last for more than 30 min.

run, rows, and wall sits 3x about 90 seconds should do the trick... then run... then board a more when you are out on the lake because thats a workout in itself.. MAKE SURE YOU STRETCH EVERYDAY!! It will help you out a ton

Just made myself a forearm trainer the other week. A piece of dowel, broom handle or whatever, a length of rope and a weight on the end. You can either make the rope long enough to hold the stick straight out in front of you, good for shoulders as well, or just so you can hold it where you're comfortable. Simply wind the rope up onto the stick and then back down again, then go the other way, palms down. You can also swap over to palms up and do the same thing. Palms up brings in biceps and rotator muscles in your back.

I'm using about a 6 lb weight at the moment (milk bottles and chain) you'll be surprised how hard it is, especially holding the weight straight out in front of you at shoulder level.

Very cheap and effective exercise equipment, you can probably make it with stuff around your house.

My flatmate after using it the first time for like 2 minutes said he felt like he'd been hammering nails all day.

Have you considered a trampoline? It's definitely a great workout for endurance plus it's also a good way to maintain or improve your air awareness and muscle memory.

There are a lot of different tramps that can work but if you also want to train with a rope, check out www.AirFanatic.com. It's a new design that's specially for wakeboard and wake skate practice, with a safety cage that's open in the front so you have the peace of mind of the netting but the rope can move around freely as well.

Doing a combonation of Kettle bell work and plyo in my mind can't be beat for Sports fitness. It hits on every level, core, muscle strength and endurance as well as cardio. You'll even hit forearm strength and endurance.